Players can opt to play as one of six classes to aid their chosen Empire in global domination. They’ll fight for control of key territories and valuable resources on three playable continents – Indar, Esamir and Amerish. With an extensive skill tree and free-form class-based system, players will be able to customize their soldier, weapons and vehicles to match their play-style, as well as the needs of their squad, outfit or empire. Battles can last for days or weeks, so players will need to build alliances and specialized combat outfits to take on long-term strategic and tactical initiatives. With aircraft and ground vehicles, as well as infantry combat, the battles will be larger and more intense than ever before.

As players earn battle experience, they’ll increase their certs and unlock access to new roles and extensive customization options, along with a variety of weapons and vehicles.

“PlanetSide 2 is designed to enable player-driven combat where teammates rely on each other to succeed and survive. With so much control in the hands of the players, every day we learn more about what they can and will do in Auraxis,” said Higby. “We’ve launched, but development will never be done. We have tons of plans in place and content in development to help fuel years of battle.”

So I am the only one who had disastrous performance? I have a 670gtx and sometimes when looking at these huge lab-structures (on legs, with domes) I get like 15fps. On lowest, possible, graphics.

Something is definitely majorly wrong with this engine, because I get above 60fps in BF3 on a 64 player server, with 64 player in view while I get a lot less than that even with no player in view in PS2

I am confused, does this game hate AMD cpu's + a 670gtx or what is it?

I gave it some time and relaunched the game and noticed there was 2 updates that fixed crashes. So I figured I would give it a shot dropped into action landed in a Hotspot got shot in the face and crashed basically all I ever see now is Planetside2.exe stopped reponding. I think Ill get rid of the Steam version and give it a week try once more and then just move on. Actually Ill try earily december since my ISP likes to warn me of overages 250gig a month and I seem to go over that a lot : /

InBlack wrote on Nov 21, 2012, 03:20:Definitely a hard game to get into, not for the "ME ME ME ME!" generation. Very steep learning curve. If you were born after 1990 then this game is probably not for you....

...

You really think the average CoD player is under 22?

Some people can be seriously demented in their own superiority complex. I guess you get that in every hobby. Somewhere out there some guy thinks he's special because he thinks his decision to collect only stamps from Burma makes him more intellectual.

Erm what? Where did I mention CoD in my post regarding PS2? This has nothing to do with intellectual capacity. It does however have everything to do with attention spans. In my line of work (sales) I deal personally with a lot of teenagers and young adults and even though generalizing is often an excercise in stupdity I based my remarks on personal experience. There are always exceptions but trust me most young adults I have dealings with professionaly have the attention spans of gnats...

Hearing of more than one problem with Steam installs on Planetside 2. So that may be your common problem.

jakecroft wrote on Nov 21, 2012, 17:23:Wow I expected to see others having CTD issues. I played the beta for months and although I would occasionally crash, this new build will not work for me. I have 2 totally different systems one is a intel 2500k and the other is an AMD 6 core both have 8 gig ram and both have nvidia cards one is a 660ti and the other is a 560ti. I downloaded both systems from Steam and both computers CTD within 30 seconds of the start of the game. Ive tried differnet sets of drivers even the beta ones that say they are specific for PS2 stability. On the forums there are many others that have the same issue as myself CTD over and over. This is by far the worst launch of any game ive seen personally but it seems others have no issues playing it. The one good thing is the game was totally free if this game was not free and it was something I bought I would be losing my mind but I have so many other games to play right now it doesnt really matter. I played Planetside 1 and really liked it but that one was a pay to play and I quickly lost interest once I got into battlefield. This one I played in the beta and It seems good but It looks like a game where you will have the upper hand if you decide to pay some money for. The devs said its not going to be a pay to win type of game but it sure looks like one.

Facility capture is a bit wacky. Unless I'm mad though, all there is to grasp:

Small bases have one to three control points. Stand near a control point long enough, and you capture it. Own the majority of control points, and you start to push up your score in the base. Once you've got the max score, you win the base. You can push the base more quickly if you have people standing beside each (now captured) control point, with the bonus per control point maxing out with some number of players.

Larger bases, such as biolabs, have sub-bases around the perimeter of their territory. If you capture a sub-base (same rules as any other base, though usually they have only one control point), you get a forward spawn point for you team to attack the main base.

Larger bases also often have generators. Shutting down a generator (hold E on it to plant a charge; shooting it doesn't do much or anything) will take down a forcefield, making it easier to enter the base. Some sub-bases -- e.g. biolabs -- have teleporters (icon is a little teleporter with up/down arrows) that beam you right into the main base, which of course makes tit much easier to take.

While you're taking a base, the enemies will generally still be able to spawn. The building they spawn in has team-pass forcefields that they can not only pass through but can shoot through as well. This is meant to discourage spawn camping, as well as give a team a chance to fight back if someone tries to snipe their base from under them. It's a bit annoying once it's become obvious that you've won though. Just don't stand in the line-of-fire, and if you're defending, give up and spawn somewhere else.

Bases capture more or less quickly depending on your influence on the base (how many hexes surrounding this base's territory that your team owns). I believe this is shown in the map.

They do a pretty poor job explaining any of this, so, eh. It could benefit from some better in-game explanation.

As far as figuring out how to get into the action: if you don't have anyone else to play with, just do the auto-squad-join, and press Insert to Instant Action to your squad leader. Whenever you need to respawn, the Green spawn point in the deploy screen is the one that's closest your squad leader. The game is definitely better if you have someone to play with, though. I probably wouldn't play it lone wolf.

I was a fan of the first game. I'm really liking this one, too. Unfortunately, my only real gripe with it is a significant one: performance.

Now, I don't have a top-of-the-line system (and never will), so I realize that's a big part of the problem. (I had frustratingly low framerates in active areas even in the first game, too.) When you're trying to contribute to a base assault while pulling 5-15 frames per second, it's a bit of a downer. I guess I just need to find a role that keeps me away from the heavy action.

(Also, this isn't an issue unique to Planetside. I've had significant performance hits in World of Warcraft while in heavily populated areas like Stormwind and Orgrimar.)

I also have an issues that's occurred twice in the several hours I've been playing. Occasionally my frame rate with drop to 1 (or even 0!) frames per second. After my inevitable death and respawn, the game seems to have trouble drawing the world. I can see the various indicators, but there are no vehicles, players, terrain, etc. If I turn slightly, they all pop in. This leads to a horrific strobe effect that won't go away until I quit and restart the game.

Speaking of quitting, Planetside2.exe has crashed on exit 100% of the time. I've had it crash on me only once in my several hours of play so far, but I'll be damned if it can't shut itself down properly on my system.

As to the difficulty, I'll agree with others that it's pretty difficult to figure out what's going on. I recommend the Planetside 2 Basic Training videos at a minimum. That said, I'm still trying to figure out the intricacies of facility capture.

Also, dropping a new player right into the battle may sound like a great, instant-gratification way to introduce them to the game, but it's really frustrating to step out of the drop pod and be promptly killed without even enough time to marvel at the environment or open the map.

The one thing that blows me away, though, is the level of customization available through certifications. I don't know what's available in other games like Modern Warfare, Battlefield, etc., but Planetside 2 spectacularly outdoes the original in this area.

I'm also digging the base and outpost designs. The general capture mechanic is nice, too. A player back in the original Planetside days floated almost exactly this system as suggestion. I'm glad to see it implemented.

Overall, this game has some real potential, in my opinion. Unfortunately, a lot of people are probably going to be turned off by the first impression (drop pod -> death) and poor performance on anything less than a top-of-the-line machine.

Had a bunch of fun playing this last night with a four other people (we also opened the squad to let randoms in later). We spearheaded a few assaults, spent a hell of a long time in a biolab.

I'm not sure how much staying power this'll have for me, but for now I don't have any particular complaints aside from the bland sameness of all the base structures (across all the continents).

One member of our group crashed once, I believe, in about three hours of play total. We played during the last two or three beta patches, and over all that time (eh, three or four nights maybe?) and all of us (6 or 7 of us) only had one crash that I can recall.

Quboid wrote on Nov 21, 2012, 12:01:Hey, I agree with you about the superiority complex some have about CoD but my Burmese stamp collection is one of the larger Myanmar-exclusive ones in the west of Northern Ireland and I'm very proud of this fact! Even if I am obviously just making it up. My collection is from Bolivia.

jakecroft wrote on Nov 21, 2012, 17:23:Wow I expected to see others having CTD issues. I played the beta for months and although I would occasionally crash, this new build will not work for me. I have 2 totally different systems one is a intel 2500k and the other is an AMD 6 core both have 8 gig ram and both have nvidia cards one is a 660ti and the other is a 560ti. I downloaded both systems from Steam and both computers CTD within 30 seconds of the start of the game. Ive tried differnet sets of drivers even the beta ones that say they are specific for PS2 stability. On the forums there are many others that have the same issue as myself CTD over and over. This is by far the worst launch of any game ive seen personally but it seems others have no issues playing it. The one good thing is the game was totally free if this game was not free and it was something I bought I would be losing my mind but I have so many other games to play right now it doesnt really matter. I played Planetside 1 and really liked it but that one was a pay to play and I quickly lost interest once I got into battlefield. This one I played in the beta and It seems good but It looks like a game where you will have the upper hand if you decide to pay some money for. The devs said its not going to be a pay to win type of game but it sure looks like one.

I CTD, but it is random and never within 30 seconds of starting the game. Since launch I've CTD'd 4 or 5 times actually. (amd phenom2 quadcore 4 gigs ram gtx480 win7-64)

NegaDeath wrote on Nov 21, 2012, 13:30:If "lone wolves" are useless then it just isn't the game for me. Oh well. Have fun everybody.

It really depends on your definition of "useless". I've sneaked into enemy territories with the light assault class a couple times and staked out very nice positions, taking down 10+ enemies where they completely didn't expect me.. Jetpacks rock =)

But then you run out of ammo and start to run around trying to knife people, which feels incredibly dull... and your overall contribution to the team isn't much but delaying enemies while doing this. Still they were some fun scenarios to end up in while learning the game early on =) A wingman with ammo drop could have made the carnage much more long-lasting though!

Wow I expected to see others having CTD issues. I played the beta for months and although I would occasionally crash, this new build will not work for me. I have 2 totally different systems one is a intel 2500k and the other is an AMD 6 core both have 8 gig ram and both have nvidia cards one is a 660ti and the other is a 560ti. I downloaded both systems from Steam and both computers CTD within 30 seconds of the start of the game. Ive tried differnet sets of drivers even the beta ones that say they are specific for PS2 stability. On the forums there are many others that have the same issue as myself CTD over and over. This is by far the worst launch of any game ive seen personally but it seems others have no issues playing it. The one good thing is the game was totally free if this game was not free and it was something I bought I would be losing my mind but I have so many other games to play right now it doesnt really matter. I played Planetside 1 and really liked it but that one was a pay to play and I quickly lost interest once I got into battlefield. This one I played in the beta and It seems good but It looks like a game where you will have the upper hand if you decide to pay some money for. The devs said its not going to be a pay to win type of game but it sure looks like one.

SOE is retarded with its payment system. Who thinks charging $0 to authenticate is a good idea!? Twice, my bank NatWest UK has locked all my accounts when trying to buy from SOE. The first time was with Alpha Squad, which SOMEHOW went through ok with my debit card. The second time was yesterday trying to subscribe to PlanetSide 2 as a member on a monthly subscription. I e-mail SOE Account & Billing Support about it and all they tell me is that they got a "Do Not Honor" error and asked me to contact my bank. Yes, cheers - I HAD to contact my bank because they locked my accounts!!To top it off, they don't allow you to use the likes of PayPal for subscriptions. So yeah, I don't trust SOE with payments anymore so they lose out on all my potential monetary custom.

Omni wrote on Nov 21, 2012, 09:50:I like it a lot but it still runs like shit. =(

The same thing faced players of the original game. Only a top-of-the-line rig will play the game smoothly at higher graphics settings. As time goes on and the average players upgrade their systems they'll see better performance.

Also, its a new engine and Im sure they've got a lot of tweaking to go yet.

Hump wrote on Nov 21, 2012, 08:06:You've obviously haven't played for long.

Joining a game and simply playing run-n-gun will get you very little XP and you'll contribute nothing to the empire you joined. Not to mention it'll get you dead pretty quickly. The base capture gives your team specific perks depending on what that bases function is. Theres the certification point system along with other units of reward all of which allows one to upgrade charcter, weapons, armor, vehicles, etc.

IOW, just joining and playing like you would a game of CoD is futile. You may as well not play at all. Unfortunatey the kiddies are going to assume this is a sci-fi version of battlefield will quit in frustration without having a clue as to what the game is all about.

I played planetside 1, and was in that first round of testers. Frankly I stand by my comments, i loved PS1, PS2 is *ok*.

"XP systems" loadout's etc are hardly unique to planetside, whilst the bases you capture do impact the game play. you are *not* going to go go randomly cap a base yourself; you are going to follow the rest of the squad (if using my example); and in doing that you will level just as well.

Its not like removing enemy players from the battlefield by killing them isn't a worthwhile thing to be doing. (and inevitably the flow of the game takes you to the important places).

Also, i have to say, if you are concerned about XP over the act of shooting someone, you are totally missing the whole point of planetside; both 1 and 2. Just shooting enemys isnt pointless ever. you might not understand the game as well as someone else but you are being valueable all the same - and frankly be dammed with all the "why so serious" stuff.

I was simply responding to your statement that implied the game was just point-and-shoot. If you are a vet then you know its much more than that. There IS a significant (for a shooter) learning curve if you are to take advantage of all the game has to offer.

InBlack wrote on Nov 21, 2012, 03:20:Definitely a hard game to get into, not for the "ME ME ME ME!" generation. Very steep learning curve. If you were born after 1990 then this game is probably not for you....

...

You really think the average CoD player is under 22?

Some people can be seriously demented in their own superiority complex. I guess you get that in every hobby. Somewhere out there some guy thinks he's special because he thinks his decision to collect only stamps from Burma makes him more intellectual.

Hey, I agree with you about the superiority complex some have about CoD but my Burmese stamp collection is one of the larger Myanmar-exclusive ones in the west of Northern Ireland and I'm very proud of this fact! Even if I am obviously just making it up. My collection is from Bolivia.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke